THE CASE

Yesterday Jack Teitel, a self-confessed long-time volunteer for the Yad L'Achim anti-missionary organization, was finally convicted by the District Court in Jerusalem on two accounts of murder and two accounts of attempted murder including the bombing of Ami Ortiz, the Messianic Jewish young man from the town of Ariel.

Nearly five years ago, during the 2008 Purim holiday, Teitel left a pipe bomb disguised as a gift package on the doorstep of the Ortiz family. When Ami, then 15 years old brought the package inside and opened it, he detonated the bomb which critically wounded him filling his body with hundreds of pieces of shrapnel.

Ami has miraculously recovered from this attack, but is still undergoing a serious of painful plastic surgeries to remove his scars. During the opening of his trial, Teitel said, "it was a pleasure and honor to serve my G-d, G-d is proud of what I did. I have no regrets".

It is a relief to know that this cold-blooded murderer will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Over the past five years, JIJ has supported the Ortiz family offering pro-bono legal representation, raising donations to renovate their bombed apartment and care for Ami's special medical needs, as well as helping them manage the Israeli media's treatment of the attack, investigation and trial.

Yesterday Ami's parents, David and Leah Ortiz, sent JIJ the following note: "we know you heard the good news of the guilty verdict, but we just want to thank you for standing by us for these years, and for supporting us in every way". JIJ is honored to have played a part in bringing justice to this case. Indeed, the mills of justice grind slow, yet they grind fine.

Below is a revealing article. We would not have known that our hearing tomorrow is cancelled if David hadn't felt impressed to look on the internet to see if there were any articles about Jack Teitel before the hearing. He found this!

We were involved in the case with the FBI from the very beginning, even before the Shin Bet and the FBI got together. The Shin Bet were supposed to contact the FBI and tell them that American citizens were involved in the attack, but they didn't inform them officially until January 2009 , almost a year later. There are other things that we're not at liberty to say yet, but the Lord has taken that which has been spoken in secret and gradually it is being shouted from the housetops!

The State Prosecutor failed to inform our lawyer and ourselves that a hearing was held on Monday instead of tomorrow, and therefore the hearing for tomorrow is cancelled. This is the second time that they failed to inform the victims that the hearing date was changed. Another hearing is supposed to take place in a few weeks.

Teitel refuses to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize court's authority.

By Chaim Levinson

A year prior to Yakov "Jack" Teitel's arrest, the Shin Bet and the FBI were in close contact as part of an investigation into bombings targeting homosexuals, messianic Christians and left-wing figures, Haaretz has learned.

Teitel was arrested on October 7. However, the initial exchanges on the case between the two security services on the case began in October 2008, when a Shin Bet officer, code-named Ariel, contacted the FBI with a request for assistance in the investigation. Eventually, the authorities would come to suspect Teitel as the person behind the bombings.

Meanwhile, deliberations were held at the Jerusalem District Court Monday on Teitel's case. Teitel has refused to cooperate with his attorney, saying he does not recognize the court's authority and Monday it appointed two new defense lawyers, who are to respond to the charges against Teitel by next month.

The Shin Bet and the police were building a profile of the bomber as avenues of investigation had reached a dead end. One of the conclusions in the investigation was that the bomber probably was an American, which led to the cooperation with the FBI.

The Israeli authorities considered translating the pamphlets on how to make explosive devices the bomber had made for dissemination to other intelligence services in the hope of possibly finding a link through their data bases.

Haaretz has learned that in May 2009, two FBI agents visited Israel to assist in the Teitel case. The Shin Bet investigators were becoming increasingly convinced Teitel was the prime suspect. The FBI agents shared the information they had on Teitel's activities in the U.S.; he had a police record.

Teitel himself told the Shin Bet that in 2000, he fought with his landlord, who threw him out of the apartment. As he fled, Teitel used his car to hit the landlord's dog, and he reportedly carried an unlicensed pistol, fearing trouble with the police. He then fled to Israel.

The FBI played a two-fold role. It had information on Teitel but also probed cases involving Americans who have been targets of terrorism. The FBI began investigating such instances in the 1980s with the help of local authorities, and its office in Tel Aviv covers incidents in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. The head of the office met with Lea and David Ortiz, whose son Amiel was badly injured in a Purim package bomb believed to have been sent by Teitel in March 2008.

Yaakov (Jack) Teitel disrupted Jerusalem District Court on Sunday when he stood up suddenly and told the judges in English that he opposes "this whorehouse" which he said had no legitimacy to try him. Teitel is accused of various acts over a period of many years which have earned him the title of "Jewish terrorist."

Teitel told the judges he accepts the Torah judgment alone, reiterated that the court was not authorized to try him, and said "God is king."

Last November an indictment was submitted against him, including 14 paragraphs detailing 12 years of terror. According to the allegations against him, in 1997 he murdered taxi driver Samir Akram Balbisi in Jerusalem, and shepherd Issa Jabrin near Susya. He then returned to his country of birth, the United States, before coming back to Israel where he tried to harm police officers and Palestinians a number of times.

According to the indictment, he also placed an explosive device in the house of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell who was lightly wounded, and sent a booby-trapped gift to a family of Messianic Jews in Ariel, seriously wounding their teenage son Ami Ortiz.

The court debate centered round contradictory medical opinions regarding Teitel. One asserted he was not fit to stand trial, while another said he was fit to stand trial and responsible for his actions. During the debate, Teitel's attorneys Michael Ironi and Asher Ohayon requested the raw material on which the medical opinions were based so they could fully understand the second opinion.

Representative of the State Prosecution Sagi Ofir agreed to the request, and the court ruled that the two sides would submit a joint injunction permitting the psychiatrists to submit the raw material.

Ohayon also said Teitel would not agree to cooperate with the court. "The most he is willing to do, after much effort, is to be passive," Ohayon said, referring to "higher" orders which would not permit Teitel to do more than this.

Our lawyer said that we need to understand that the due process of law is going well, and that the issue of insanity has to be resolved so that if the trial will go forward, Teitel's lawyers can't claim insanity later on.

December 2nd will be very dramatic, and will determine whether Teitel will stand trial at this present time, or ever. faith in my spirit, that the Lord is going to touch this man. It might take time, but I believe it will happen.

New psychiatric evaluation contradicts initial evaluation which determined that 'Jewish terrorist' is mentally ill. 'Teitel was responsible for his actions when he committed them,' district psychiatrist rules

-Aviad Glickman

A psychiatric evaluation submitted to the Jerusalem District Court determined that "Jewish terrorist" Yaakov (Jack) Teitel, who was indicted for murdering Arabs and attempting to hurt Prof. Ze'ev Sterhell is fit to stand trial and was responsible for his actions, Ynet learned Monday.

This evaluation contradicts an initial evaluation submitted to the court three months ago, which stated that Teitel's mental state may not allow for trial to proceed. He was later sent to a different hospital for another evaluation.

Teitel has been hospitalized at the Magen hospital for the past three months, and a hearing on his matter is expected to take place next week.

His lawyer, Attorney Asher Ohayon, said in response to the new evaluation: "We will study the evaluation and respond to it as part of the court discussions.

After the first evaluation was submitted, Teitel said upon entering the courtroom, "I don't know if I'm insane. I don't recognize this court's authority."

Teitel was indicted in November 2009 on 14 different counts. The 37-year-old resident of the settlement of Shvut Rachel was indicted for the murder of Palestinian taxi driver, Samir Balbisi, in June 1997, and the murder of a Palestinian shepherd a few months later. He was also charged with laying an explosive device next to a Palestinian home near the West Bank settlement of Eli.

The indictment also charged that Teitel attempted to poison Palestinian residents of an isolated village near Eli. He was also indicted for attempting to murder Ami Ortiz, the son of a Messianic family living in Ariel, when he sent an explosive device disguised as a Purim gift to their home. In addition, he was charged with placing a bomb next to Prof. Zeev Sternhell's home.

We are still in a holding pattern concerning the trial of Jack Teitel. The trial has not begun yet because of the psychiatric testing.

In the case of Chaim Pearlman, suspects are continuing to be arrested, questioned and released, all members of the Kach movement who are followers of the now deceased Rabbi Meir Kahane. (Website on Kahane - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbi_Meir_Kahane)

One Rabbi that was arrested and interrogated was the author of the book "King Torah" which we've spoken about before - which condones the killing of the Jews' enemies by regular citizens, and even the murdering of their children.

In my last update I wrote, concerning the postponement of the hearing - “We pray that what needs to be brought out into the light will be revealed, because we believe that the Lord wants to do something bigger than what we can see at this time.”

The next day Chaim Pearlman was arrested. He is accused of murdering at least two Palestinians in East Jerusalem in 1998 and wounding others. He is a member of an ultra- right wing outlawed organization called the Kach movement whose founder was Rabbi Meri Kahane. Pearlman has been arrested on minor misdemeanours in the years since the murders. He was very smart though – when he began to be visited by the Shin Bet (Israeli secret service) in the months before his arrest, he had the feeling he was about to be apprehended, and so he secretly recorded the meetings. He recorded 20 hours of alleged conversations with Shin Bet agents, and if nothing else, to us they have revealed a certain modus operandi which is exactly the same as the secret services dealings with Jack Teitel, and interesting similarities between Teitel’s and Pearlman’s activities.

Teitel allegedly murdered two Palestinians in 1997

Pearlman allegedly murdered at least two Palestinians in 1998

Teitel was interrogated by the Shin Bet on his involvement and released because of lack of evidence. This happened in 1997. Upon his return to Israel to make aliyah in 2000, he was again interrogated by the Shin Bet who asked him to be an informer of the far-right radical Jewish factions. He agreed, but later ties were cut because of lack of cooperation on his part.

Pearlman was interrogated in 2002 by the Shin Bet in connection with the murders that he carried out, but couldn’t be arrested because of lack of evidence. He was offered money in order to become an informer of the same, but later on ties were cut because of lack of cooperation.

Twelve years passed until Teitel was arrested during which time he committed the rest of his violent crimes, including two attempted murders (one of which was planting a bomb in our house resulting in the critical wounding of Ami), and a string of other violent attempts on people’s lives. During that time he collected a large weapons cache, ostensibly taught himself to manufacture bombs, got married and had 4 children.

Twelve years passed from the time Pearlman allegedly carried out his murders until he was arrested during which time he was active in right-wing radical groups and activates, got married and had 3 children.

Teitel was held in the Shin Bet’s prison for several weeks after his arrest. He was denied access to a lawyer and a gag order was placed on the arrest details.

Pearlman is being held in the same prison, also has been denied visits by his lawyer but the judge denied the gag order request. Because of this, and because partial contents of the secret tapes were released to the press, we have this information.

A secret letter was delivered to the judge by the Police and Shin Bet in the case of Jack Teitel when we took the police to court to get back our confiscated security camera hard disc.

A secret letter from the same security agencies has been delivered to the judge presiding at this time over the Pearlman case.

MEDIA WAR

The Pearlman case is confusing to the Israeli public, as no one knows who is telling the truth-Pearlman or the Shin Bet! All we know is that there is always more than what meets the eye, and we are questioning more each day why Teitel has been hidden away in a mental institution for the past six months, with postponement after postponement by the district court psychiatrist, and why we haven’t had the full cooperation or information sharing of any government legal or security service since the bomb went off in our house on March 20, 2008, critically wounding Ami.

We were informed today by our lawyer that the hearing scheduled for tomorrow to determine Yakov Teitel's ability to stand trial has been postponed again by the psychiatrists until the beginning of September! There could be many reasons for this, but at any rate it is clear that the court psychiatrist is continuing to re-evaluate. Our lawyer said that the term - "psychotic state" which is what the psychiatrist has determined that Teitel is in, is like the flu in psychiatric terms - something that comes and goes, easily. All we can do is wait - since God is always working, we will give Him the glory and assume that it is all in His hands, and that no matter what the plan or scheme of the enemy of our souls, all things will work together for good. We pray that what needs to be brought out into the light will be revealed, because we believe that the Lord wants to do something bigger than what we can see at this time.

We were informed by our lawyer today that the District Court Psychiatrist who is examining Yakov Teitel's mental ability to stand trial has asked for an extension until July 14th. The State Prosecutor says that it is an encouraging sign - maybe they are re-evaluating their initial evaluation?

May 5th, 2010 was a momentous day. We had another hearing in the Jack Teitel case. As you know he has been undergoing psychiatric testing for the past three months, and yesterday the defence came back to court with the suggestion of the district psychiatrist that Teitel is currently in a psychotic state and not fit to stand trial at this time. This is the third team of lawyers that Teitel has had and the reason they're doing this is because it is literally the only line of defence that they have, as Teitel has confessed to all his crimes and has done re-enactments of several of them as well. The psychiatric evaluation is not a decision - but the media have portrayed it as a decision and so most Israelis believe it is already a done deal, and that at this time Teitel will not stand trial. However, the judges have the power to either accept this evaluation or to reject it, and that decision will be made final on June 1, 2010. The State prosecutor asked for a postponement of the decision for a few weeks to look over the psychiatrist's evaluation in order to be able to respond effectively as the State representative. If the judges accept the evaluation, the trial will be "frozen "and Teitel will remain in a psychiatric hospital under treatment until he is deemed mentally stable enough to be tried, which is unacceptable to us, the victims, as this can take an undetermined amount of time.

The courtroom is always packed with reporters. Cameramen, who are not allowed into the courtroom are lined up outside. After the hearing we went out to "meet the press". We told the media and therefore the nation that to us this evaluation is strange and illogical - for 12 years Teitel was active, working out his attacks to the last detail , built complicated bombs and stored a hidden cache of illegal weapons, covered his tracks and outwitted the police and the Shin Bet for more than a decade, learned how to lie on the polygraph test and succeeded when brought in for questioning after murdering two Palestinians twelve years ago, started a family and had children, worked for Y'ad L'achim for five years, worked and even had a business to support his family,and now when he is finally arrested, he is deemed unfit to stand trial because of mental illness.

Here is an article from YNET, which is the most widely read Hebrew news website in Israel. They have an English site a well.

As first published in Ynet, professional opinion filed in court that alleged Jewish terrorist is not fit to stand trial. Hearing postponed so prosecution can review material. Teitel tells Ynet, 'I don't know if I'm sane. I don't recognize court's jurisdiction'

Aviad Glickman
Published: 05.05.10, 12:03 / Israel News

After escaping the law for 12 years, the Jewish terrorist is also escaping a court date in the meantime. A professional psychiatric opinion was submitted Wednesday to Jerusalem District Court ruling that Jack Teitel is not fit to stand trial. The judges agreed with the State Prosecution's request to delay the hearing so that they could study the material.

Teitel, accused of a string of terrorist attacks against Arab and Jewish civilians, told Ynet, "I don't know if I'm sane. I don't recognize the jurisdiction of this court. I feel good."

Judges Zvi Segal, Moshe Drori, and Moshe Hacohen postponed the hearing on the psychiatric evaluation performed in Sha'ar Menashe Hospital, which has been accredited by the district psychiatrist. They also ruled that the district psychiatrist must confirm the professional opinion submitted by the hospital.

During the hearing, Teitel's legal counsel, Attorney Asher Ohayon from the Public Defender's Office, said that he intends to send a psychiatrist of their own to the hospital to write a professional opinion for the defense.

In court, Judge Segal asked the State Prosecution whether there was any indication of any additional illness or previous hospitalization in Teitel's past. Representative of the State Prosecution, Sagi Ofir, said that the matter was raised during investigations, but that this apparently the first time Teitel has been to a psychiatrist.

Teitel's mother and relatives of his alleged victims - Samir Akram Balbisi and Amiel Ortiz - were present during the hearing. Amiel's father, David Ortiz, said, "Teitel is a very intelligent guy who carried out his crimes intelligently. It is a test for the judges and the State of Israel not to allow this murderer to get away."

The families' representative, Attorney Yossi Greiber said that he was encouraged by the postponement granted in order to study the psychiatric evaluation. "We are stunned by this blatant attempt by one of the most sophisticated criminals to operate in Israel in the past decade who was of sound enough mind to plan the terrorist attacks."

Greiber reiterated claims that Teitel conned the psychiatrist or that his mental state is a result of personal circumstances unrelated to the trial.

12 years of terror

The opinion is based on a month-long psychiatric observation of Teitel performed in Shaar Menashe Hospital in Jerualem. The psychiatrist in charge of the case ruled that Teitel is in a psychotic state. Another opinion will be provided.

In the meantime, Teitel will apparently continue to undergo in-patient hospital treatment. Periodically, a committee will deem whether his status has changed and whether he is fit to stand trial or not.

It should be noted that the psychiatric evaluation refers only to Teitel's current psychiatric condition and whether he is currently fit for trial. It does not address his mental state when he allegedly committed the crimes being ascribed to him. It is likely that should his mental state change, his trial will continue.

Last November, an indictment was filed against Teitel on fourteen counts of terrorism over the court of 12 years. In 1997, he allegedly murdered taxi driver, Samir Akram Balbisi in Jerusalem and shepherd Issa Jabrin near Sussia.

After returning to the US, his country of origin, he returned to Israel and tried to harm police officers and Palestinians. He later planted a bomb at the home of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell, who was only lightly wounded in the incident. Teitel is also suspected of sending a booby-trapped Purim gift basket to a Messianic Jewish family living in Ariel that seriously wounded teenager Amiel Ortiz.

The last court hearing which was supposed to take place in March was cancelled because Yakov “Jack”Teitel, the perpetrator of the crime against our family, is in psychiatric testing in a psychiatric hospital for the criminally insane. He is still there, and will undergo testing until May 2nd – at which time we have a tentative hearing on May 5th at 9:30 AM Israel time to hear the results and the decision of the court – whether he is psychologically capable of standing trial. Our lawyer said that if he is deemed incapable, that he will be in a jail for the criminally insane, and treated until he can stand trial. He will stand trial one day – we know, before the King of Kings and Lord or Lords – Please pray that this trial will be able to proceed, and for Teitel himself, and his family, to be redeemed and to come to repentance.